What is Snow?
by CassandraDay254
Summary: What happens when a mysterious white blanket covers all of Camelot? Will Arthur listen to Merlin's concerns or will he just laugh them off? This is my first fanfic, I hope you enjoy! Read and Review please! Merther, much fluff. Set sometime after season one, just a one shot I came up with.


What is Snow?

_**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN MERLIN**_

_**This is my first fanfic and I hope you guys will enjoy it. Read and review please! This will be set sometime after the first season, but before the second. MERTHER! No smut, just pure fluff. Thanks! Hope you enjoy!**_

Merlin woke up with a start, the covers on the floor covering the clothes he had thrown off the night before. He scrambled to find the warmest clothes he owned and then quickly put them on. As he walked out of his room he rubbed his hands together and blew on them to try and warm himself up. There had been cold winters in Elador, but nothing like this!

The moon was still shinning when Merlin walked outside, but he hardly noticed as he ran to Arthur's chambers.

"Wake up! Wake up!" He shouted.

"What in the devil's name is it Merlin? This better be good or I'm putting you in the stocks. No, actually I think I'll do that anyway. Nothing can be that important this early. Leave me alone."

"But all the food is gone!" Merlin waved his hands in exasperation. That got Arthur's attention. He shot out of bed and started to get dressed.

"What do you mean it's gone? Where did it go?"

"It's all been covered up. There's no ground anywhere. Look," He pointed to the window and as Arthur walked over, noticed that the prince wasn't wearing a shirt.

"For G'd's sake, it's just snow Merlin," he sighed but quickly started to laugh in disbelief when he saw his manservant's dumbfounded expression.

"What's snow?"

"You've never heard of snow?"

"No."

"When it's really cold outside the rain turns to snow. It's white, cold, and mushy, but not dangerous."

"Oh." Merlin would never admit it, but he felt like an idiot.

"Come on," Arthur threw a jacket at him and walked out his door. Merlin put the jacket on and followed after.

"Where are we going?" Arthur didn't answer, but Merlin had only asked to interrupt the silence. While explaining snow to Merlin, Arthur had put on two pairs of trousers, an undershirt, a normal shirt and a jacket. He had also put on gloves, two pairs of socks, and shoes.

They stopped on the bottom step leading to the castle, just before the snow and Arthur waved his arm from one side to the other like he had made the snow himself.

"Well, don't just stand here, go check it out." Arthur said as he pushed Merlin into the snow. The manservant fell into the snow and jumped up almost immediately.

"It's wet!"

"Of course it's wet, its snow."

"Of course it's wet, its snow." The sound of Arthur's voice coming through his window woke Uther almost immediately. What was the boy doing up so early? The sun wasn't even out yet. He got up and walked to his window where he saw Arthur standing on the step to the palace and Merlin standing in the snow looking around him. When the manservant's back was turned, Arthur packed some snow together in his fist and then threw it at the boy. Merlin, who was usually a bit clumsy, fell yet again into the snow.

Uther sighed. Would Arthur ever get tired of abusing his servants? Probably not. Well at least he stopped throwing daggers at them for target practice. Uther had lost a few too many servants who had gotten arm or leg injuries thanks to that. But at least the boy was smiling.

Merlin threw a snowball back at Arthur and the King gasped in shock. Arthur had snowball fights with the knights as a child and they had all had a good time, but while the knights threw snowballs at each other no one dared to throw one at the prince. Merlin, however, did. And Arthur was laughing! That was the most astonishing part. The boy was actually smiling about getting hit with a wet slushy ball by his servant.

"I'm gonna put you in the stocks for that!" He called. Merlin smiled and even from far above Uther could see the spark in his eye.

"You'll have to catch me then!" And just like that he took off running. Arthur chased Merlin around and around for a while until Merlin slipped and landed in the snow for the third time. Arthur caught up and knelt down. They were both breathing heavily.

"You okay?" He panted.

"Yup." Merlin smiled a brilliant smile and Arthur couldn't help smiling back. Merlin loved to see that smile on Arthur's face. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever and thankfully their cheeks were already red from running in the cold so neither noticed that they were blushing. Uther clenched his teeth. What was this? His son – the prince and the, the servant boy? The SERVANT? BOY? No. Nope. No way. Uther refused to believe his eyes and he was just about to walk out there himself and give them a piece of his mind when they both turned their heads.

"What was that?" Merlin asked. They watched the area where they heard the sound for another few minutes when they saw something hop up and down a few times. "A bunny?"

"Yes Merlin, a bunny." But Merlin barley heard him. He was already up and walking towards the animal. It was in a patch where the snow had melted in a little circle, but it didn't seem to want to move out onto the snow.

"Poor little guy. Must be hard for him to find food with all this snow." Merlin picked it up brought the bottom of his jacket up to cradle the small rabbit. The sun was just starting to rise as Merlin looked past Arthur and toward the palace. "Hmmm… let's get you some carrots? Would you like that?" Arthur burst out laughing at the ridiculous voice and received a cold look from his servant.

"_Mer_lin it can't hear you. It's just a rabbit, there are lots of them around here and they always fend for themselves just fine."

"First off; he's a boy, not an 'it'. And secondly, did you _see_ him trying to find a way out of that little patch of land? He could hardly find food from there." He turned his attention back to the rabbit. "Don't you worry; I'll take care of you." Arthur laughed again. Sometimes Merlin was just so freakin' adorable.

"Alright, alright, we'll go get the thing a couple of carrots."

Merlin beamed at Arthur before following him down to the kitchens leaving Uther time to think.

"My son." He said to himself. "And _Merlin_? It's… it's unorthodox… unseen… strange… no, it's not possible." But from the way Arthur had looked at Merlin and when Merlin smiled back at Arthur… not only was it very possible, it was very real.

He yawned and looked back at his bed. In a few hours he would have to get up and fulfill his duties as king and he would have plenty of time that night to decide what he would do about Arthur and Merlin, but for now he would get as much sleep as he could.

Arthur was lying on his bed watching Merlin. Said manservant was lying on the floor with his arms stretched out in a circle above his head. Inside the circle sat a very happy little bunny eating his second carrot and looking at the third intensely.

"What's wrong now?" Arthur asked worried about the crease between Merlin's eyebrows.

"Do you think I could build a fence and put it under my bed? I could put carrots in it, and once the snow clears, I'll get grass and put that in it too. The bunny could live there, couldn't he?" The hope in his eyes was unmistakable.

"I don't think he'd like it too much under you bed. G'd knows what you've got under there. Besides, rabbits like sunlight. Why don't you just ask Guias if you can keep it?"

"Guias has a 'no animals' policy. He'd never agree to it." Merlin sighed.

"Well why don't you keep it here then? I can get my father to agree to it and we can give it proper food and a real place to stay. **But** _you're_ cleaning up after it and feeding it. I want nothing to do with that." By the time Arthur had finished speaking Merlin had scooped up the bunny and ran over to the prince. Without thinking too much of what he was doing, Merlin gently put the bunny in Arthur's hands and kissed his cheek. With the same breath he used to kiss Arthur's cheek, he was speaking.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Of course I will. I do that for you anyway! You're the best! I've got to go tell Morgana and Gwen! They'll be so excited! THANK YOU!" Merlin nearly skipped out of the room with a dorky grin like a five year old girl. Arthur laughed and stoked the bunny.

_Merlin just kissed my cheek?_ Arthur asked himself. His lips had felt warm and soft and it was a very pleasant feeling. He wished that he had 'accidentally' turned his head and their lips had connected instead, but he'd take what he could get. He loved every inch of Merlin from his dark messy hair to his dirty brown shoes that he always wore. He had been through hell figuring that out, but once he accepted it things got better. He knew that there was no way Merlin could feel the same, but he was happy that they still got to spend time together. His whole life he had known that he would have to marry for the good of the kingdom, not the person that he loved. It was just the price of being king – or a someday king. Either way he had already known that the person he wanted to be with – whoever that may be – would be a fantasy in his head more than a reality. And although that didn't make him too happy, at least he had an excuse for always being around Merlin.

Merlin ran out of the room. _I just kissed Arthur's cheek. I just __**kissed**__ Arthur's cheek. I just kissed Arthur's …_ he knocked on Morgana's door without realizing it and when she opened the door Merlin spoke his thought, "cheek."

"What about a cheek?" She asked.

"I just kissed it."

"Arthur's?"

"Who else?" Morgana was the one person Merlin felt he could tell anything too. He felt a strange connection with her and it was good to have such a close friend at the palace. He had told her all about his feelings for Arthur when he first discovered them and started freaking out. She had been very supportive and very helpful.

"And?"

"And what?"

"How did he react?"

"I've got no clue. I ran out of there as soon as I did it."

"Ok, start from the beginning and tell me everything."

Merlin took a deep breath before he began. "Alright. So we were playing in the snow because I didn't know what snow was and then we saw this bunny and so we got food for it and I really wanted to keep it, but there's no way Guias would let me so Arthur said that as long as I clean up after it that he would keep it in his room so I kissed his cheek, said thanks and that I was coming to tell you about the bunny and then ran like a bat outta hell."

"Ok well first, next time, try taking a breath between sentences. And second, I'll come back with you to see the bunny because well I want to and it will reduce the awkwardness a little. But you just have to pretend like you didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Got it?"

"That's it? I shouldn't apologize? I'm sure what I did was out of - "

"No. No apologizing. That'll only bring attention to what you did. Just ignore it."

"Ok."

"Good. Now let's go, I actually do want to see the bunny."

Merlin and Morgana walked back to Arthur's chambers quietly and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Ready?" Morgana asked quietly.

"Well you already knocked on the door so I'd be stupid if I said no."

"Right. Sorry. Let's go."

They walked into the room and Morgana went straight over to the rabbit. Arthur kept trying to look at Merlin, but his manservant seemed to be concentrating very hard on the bunny.

"So what's his name?" Morgana asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Umm.. I don't know yet." Merlin admitted. "Got any good suggestions?"

"How about fluffy? Or softy?"

"Ummm… I'm not really sure about that, but thanks. What do you think about calling him Ears?"

"Well he does have large ears, but how about something less idiotic?" Arthur smiled down at the bunny as he spoke. As much as he wanted to catch Merlin's eye, he was a little afraid of what he might see there.

"What do you have in mind then?"

"I don't know. I'd go with something like Max or Rufus."

Merlin burst out laughing. "Rufus? Sure. I'll go with that, just because it's plain old funny."

"Why you go for it doesn't really matter so much as the fact that mine name beat out both of yours." Arthur stuck out his tongue in their general direction and then went back to petting the bunny. Both Merlin and Morgana rolled their eyes, but smiled.

"Rufus then." Morgana said. "Can I hold him?"

"Sure. Be careful, he has tiny bones."

"I will."

Arthur smirked; no one had to tell him to be careful. Did that mean Merlin trusted him more? Or was he just reading into it too much? UGH! This was complicating. Morgana stayed for a little while longer and even Gwen joined for a while too, but then they had to leave to prepare for the feast that Uther was having that night in celebration of 21 years with no magic. Uther had a feast each year, Arthur had explained when Merlin asked, but last year's had come a little late because Uther had been in the process of finding the warlock and wanted to wait to have the feast until he had executed him. This made Merlin shudder, but he quickly hid that.

"See you at the feast." Morgana said as she gave Merlin a pointed look and left.

"See you."

"Did you know it's been almost a year?"

"What's been almost a year?"

"That I've been here in Camelot. I came the day before the feast last year."

"That's true isn't it? Wow."

"Yeah." Merlin couldn't think of anything else to say, but feared what the silence could bring.

"So Merlin…" Arthur started. He didn't know how to bring up that kiss again and he really didn't know what he was going to say, but he felt like if he didn't say something now that he would either lose his opportunity, or his nerve.

"Yes?" Merlin said. He took the rabbit from Arthur's lap and started petting it.

"About earlier…"

"Yeah. Sorry, about that. I was, uh… just excited…. About the rabbit, you know. Sorry." He mumbled quietly, his face beet red.

"Were you really? Because I thought earlier… in the snow…" Arthur trailed off, his face becoming red too. He couldn't believe that he didn't just drop it, but he was dying to know if Merlin liked him too. Merlin, on the other hand, decided to play it dumb.

"The snow?" Fake innocence creeping into the tone of his voice. Arthur sighed, exasperated. Well it was always better to say things directly then to beat around the bush … or that's what he'd been told before. He could feel his hands shake and his heart beating double time as he looked at Merlin and opened his mouth.

"Do you, or do you not like me?" There. The words were out and there was no getting them back in… but oh how he wished there was. What did he think he was doing asking like that? Of course Merlin didn't like him like that. What a stupid question. And now Merlin knew how Arthur felt. It would make things so awkward between them. Would he even want to be his servant anymore or would he think even that was too weird? Great. Just great. Now he ruined the whole thing with his stupid question.

"Well of course I do Arthur. You know that. You might be a prat, but you'll always be my friend." Merlin's heart beat quickened and he panicked. He hoped that Arthur would take that as an answer, but when did Arthur ever do anything he wanted? Did he pick up on the fact that Merlin always thought about him? Or that he couldn't help but stare whenever Arthur took off his shirt? Or during sword practice… man he could hardly concentrate on anything during Arthur's sword practice. But what did this mean? Was Arthur gonna think that it was too awkward to have a servant that liked him? He already knew that Arthur didn't like him the same way and it wasn't like he was purposefully making advances on the prince. He had just gotten a little excited. He would have done the same thing – although he might not have enjoyed it that much – if Gwen or Morgana had told him that they would keep the rabbit for him.

"No Merlin. You know what I meant."

"Do I?" Merlin's voice squeaked a little much to his embarrassment.

"I think you do."

"Could you elaborate please?"

"I think it's a pretty simple question. Either you do, or you don't. Yes or no."

"I've got to go muck out the stables sire, um, yes I do like you, and then do laundry, so if you don't mind…" and without finishing his statement the extremely red faced manservant ran out of the prince's chambers. He got halfway down the hall before the stunned, but smiling prince caught up with him.

"Didn't you ever learn not to walk away when someone's talking to you?" Arthur trapped Merlin's body between his own body and the wall, putting his hands on both sides of the wall so Merlin didn't have an escape.

However embarrassed Merlin felt – which was pretty embarrassed – he couldn't stop himself from making a quick retort. "I didn't _walk _out." But his voice was weak.

"That is true; walking would be a great understatement. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Are you crazy? Even if _you_ aren't freaking out, I don't think your father would be too happy about it. I'm your _servant_. Not to mention a _boy_ for that matter."

"Well, then we should give him plenty to disprove of." Arthur said as he bent his head down and kissed Merlin. Merlin wrapped his arms around the prince's neck and opened his mouth. Arthur took the invitation to deepen the kiss and didn't break apart until they were gasping for air. As soon as their breathing began to return to normal, Merlin – who was still wrapped around Arthur's neck – pulled him back down for another kiss. They broke apart from this one, however, rather quickly when they heard someone clear their throat behind them. To both of their dismays it was Uther.

"Get a room. Or, rather, since you already have one, use it. I don't care what you do; I don't want to hear about it. Oh and try to go lightly, most people aren't used to seeing men and women of the same social status kiss. Try not to shock everyone."

"Got any tips?" Arthur thought this might be pushing their luck, but that's what he was best at.

Uther sighed. "Get some of your friends to go around kissing women they're interested in, in the town square. Once people seem used to that then try walking around holding hands and just keep gradually building up their tolerance. Oh, and no matter what you do, some people are definitely going to object. Try not to let it bother you too much."

"Wow, I had no idea you'd be so ok with this…" Arthur smiled. Most of the time his dad was pig-headed, obnoxious, and didn't agree with anything Arthur said or did, but every once in a while he would surprise him.

"Yeah well spare me the details." Uther smiled. "Don't forget about the feast tonight. I hope you're wearing something better than that."

"My clothing? You don't have a problem with me kissing Merlin, but you have a problem with my clothing?"

"Would you rather it be the other way around?"

"Nope."

"Good." Uther started to walk away, but before he got too far he called, "get a room." And then continued on. The two boys looked his direction, then looked back at each other and for once, actually followed his direction.

THE END. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I had a lot of fun writing it. Please read and review.


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